Pokemon: Perspectives
by DespicableFool
Summary: Ash Ketchum is an aspiring Trainer that is gradually becoming known throughout the Regions. But what happens when the spotlight shifts? Join Scarlet Munsell, another aspiring Trainer who must brave and conquer Training, excel in Battling, and thwart evil plots of her own...
1. Chapter 1

**I wish to thank the folks over at the Pokemon RP Forums Pokeplayers and the Pokemon Roleplay Club for allowing this development to form within their numbers. Note: This story was started on a dare with one XxXRubyJanetXxX. Any and all similarities between our works is purely coincidential and accidental.**

The Gengar and the Nidorano were locked in intense combat. They stared each other down until the Nidorano lunged at its opponent, missing by inches. It lunged again, missed again, and the Gengar retaliated with Hypnosis. The sleeping Pokemon was recalled and replaced by Onix! Scarlet almost couldn't contain her excitement- she loved watching the Pokemon League! But she never could manage to watch without Ash's Mother coming in and noticing her before shooing her off.

_Not this time, though_, she thought to herself. The announcer shouted something as Onix emerged, but she couldn't hear it properly through the window. That Ash never did notice that she was watching, at least not until his Mother walked in.

Seperated by a pane of glass, unnoticed by the oblivious Ash Ketchum, Scarlet was just as animated about the battle as Ash was- and then the door began to open. _I'm not going to be caught again_, she thought, but she panicked anyway and fell out of the tree she was perched in. Unable to contain the little yelp as she fell, she hit the ground with a thankfully silent thud. Figures! _Well, at least I didn't get caught this time_, she tried to confort herself as she gingerly lifted herself off the ground. Sore from her fall, Scarlet decided to go home. Or at least, the shabby camp she called her home.

She walked silently through the town, making sure that nobody would wake because of her. It's not that she cared for anybody losing sleep, but rather that she was usually blamed for such things. The local orphan, Scarlet (a name she gave herself because of the unnaturally bright red streak in her hair) never seemed to catch on with any of the Townsfolk. She kicked a tin can in frustration; WHY did nobody like her? The answers when she was young were never the same, but the adults used to say that she had no manners, that she had a bad attitude, that she was a brat even! _They're all being unfair! It's not MY fault! Why can't they just deal with it for five minutes?_ She continued to brood in silence until she reached her little camp.

It may be quaint, but it certainly did its job well enough. There wasn't much in this little setup in the town square, but it was all Scarlet had to grow up with: a hammock, a couple of blankets, a suitcase of clothes that were thrown out several years ago (She didn't know why- the clothes were perfect), and a dud Pokeball. Scarlet had always dreamed of becoming a Trainer. Everyone in town kept telling her that she had a lot to learn before she could become one, but that hardly ever even registered- all she wanted was to possess the strongest Pokemon in the world, to travel far and wide battling other Trainers, and becoming the Champion of every League she signed up for. That would be just amazing! Scarlet brightened as she remembered- tomorrow was Pokemon Day! They didn't call it that, of course, and she always recieved half-glares from whoever was around when she ever called it that, but she didn't care- she'll call it whatever she wanted, and nobody can stop her.

The next morning, three Trainers would each recieve a Pokemon to begin their Journey around Kanto. This was the chance she'd been waiting for! A chance to finally get a friend that didn't chastise her, to leave this stupid town, to escape from the endless criticisms from all those who didn't understand. She daydreamed about which one she would get (she wished for Charmander) until she drifted off to sleep...

The rising sun gently roused Scarlet from her slumber. She sat up and stretched, thinking back to her dream of riding her Charizard over the Region until she reached the Indigo Plateau, before realizing what day it was. Jolted with vigor, she shot out of the hammock and bolted off for Professor Oak's lab. The Professor was an exception from everyone else in all of Pallet Town, for he was literally the only person who did anything for her. Because he taught her never to kill Pokemon for food, he offered to feed her everyday, and has ever since. Scarlet liked his lab- it was always full of amazing machines that she never learned the purpose of and always had a new Pokemon around. Ever since Professor Oak showed her that pokemon could be used to inflict devastating attacks, she had always been fascinated to the point of obsession with Pokemon Battles. He also went on about a Trainer having to care for their Pokemon, but she never listened when he started going on about it- _if it doesn't help make them battle any better,_ she would tell herself, _then they can live without it. Like I had to._

After a few minutes of sprinting, she reached the lab. Because the sun was still coming up, and still very early, none of the onlookers and well-wishers were there yet. That was fine; nobody was going to wish her any luck, she knew. She knocked on the door, aware of the fact that the Professor may still be asleep.

Almost immediately, however, the Professor answered the door with his usual grandfatherly smile. "Good morning, Scarlet. You excited?"

"Yeah," she replied, her excitement showing on her face.

"Good, because the Pokemon just came in. Come inside."

She did, and marvelled at the room as usual- the suprises inside never ceased to leave her speechless. At the opposite end of the box-strewn room were a rack of Pokeballs. She wandered over to them, wandering which ones they were. She picked up one with an odd thunderbolt on the front, trying to remember if a thunderbolt could mean anything.

"Ah, ah, ah," Professor Oak startled her out of her trance as he strode over with breakfast. "No peeking!"

"You've always let me before."

"Yes, but this time, I want it to be special in case one of them is yours."

"Oh, okay," she sighed as she replaced the odd Pokeball onto the rack. She sat down and helped herself to the wonderful plate of scrambled eggs and toast that the kindly Professor offered her. "So why does that one have a thunderbolt on it?"

"That's a rather special Pokeball," he replied. "It's designed to catch Electric-Type Pokemon more easily."

"Did you make it?"

He chuckled a bit before answering "I wish. I had that one delivered by special request from one of the largest science corporations in the world that specializes in designing Pokemon-related equipment."

"You mean Silph Co?" Scarlet asked, trying to follow the conversation as best she could. Thanks to her regular visits with him, she managed to learn a lot about the world outside of Kanto and within.

"No, actually it's a government-funded industry that has never failed to pump out revolutionaey technology since its inception called Gainsboro Industries."

"I've never heard of it."

"Neither have I until I made the order," was the unexpected answer. The Professor didn't know about something? Now that was curious!

The two made small talk over breakfast before the Professor took the dishes away. "Feel free to let some of the Pokemon out, but don't touch the ones to the right of the new Pokeball, and don't even think about touching the new Pokeball, okay?"

"Sure thing, Professor." But, as he walked away, she turned towards the rack. _What the Professor doesn't know won't hurt him or the Pokemon_. Besides, all she wanted was to just see what was in the Pokeballs. Glancing at the door, making sure nobody was around or could even hear what she was doing, she grabbed the middle Pokeball and activated it. What came out was a happy Bulbasaur. The Grass-Type smiled and gleefully said "Bul-basaur!" Scarlet smiled back, giggling a little, and said "Hey, little guy." The frog-like Pokemon cheerfully replied again, and the two began chasing each other around the room. This continued until the Bulbasaur looked up at the rack with interest. Scarlet could tell what it wanted. "You want a friend to join us?" After a reply that Scarlet assumed was meant in the affirmative, she picked the strange Pokeball.

The occupant, a Pikachu, was sleeping. The Bulbasaur and the girl alike wondered if they should just leave it. But then it woke up, shook the sleep from its head, and noticed the onlookers. It tilted its head, a small smile on its head, and said "Pikachu," in a way that Scarlet found irresistable. "Oh, he's so cute!" The Pokemon began romping around playing with each other, before Scarlet heard a noise from the other room. Struck with panic, she called back the Bulbasaur and the Pikachu (which attempted to escape when it noticed that he was going back into his Pokeball) and placed the balls back onto the rack exactly as she found them.

But somehow, the Pikachu managed to break free! Realizing what it could mean if the Professor noticed that the Pikachu was free, she tried desperately to entice it back into its Pokeball, but it obviously didn't like being in its Pokeball. "C'mon little guy, back into your Pokeball, or we're going to be in trouble." Tough, it seemed to say. Losing patience, she tried to trick it with a scrap of bacon from her breakfast. This didn't work; in fact, the peevish little yellow rodent managed to outsmart her and steal the bacon. Finally fed up, she grabbed the Pokemon and tried to place it back into the Pokeball. "I tried to reason with you, you little rat! Now get in there!"

Understandably angry about this, the Pikachu shot sparks out from its cheecks in protest. These activated the other Pokeballs, revealing the Bulbasaur, a Charmander, a Squirtle, and several other Pokemon that were excited to be let out of their containment. Believing it to be playtime, the horde of Pokemon ran about the room, hitting whatever happened to be in the way. Before long, half the lab was wrecked! Scarlet screamed and felt on the verge of tears- there was no way she could hide this!

"What the blazes happened here?" The Professor stood in the doorway, shocked at what happened when he was away. Scarlet blanched, but felt that she had to say something. "Professor, I...the-the Pikachu- it...it broke out of its Pokeball! I tried to get it back in, but-" WHAM! She was bowled over by a rambunctious Snorlax, which was chasing the Pikachu and the three Pokemon that she knew were to be handed out to the Trainers today. "I'll help you fix this!" She wasn't going to lose her opportunity because of this!

"Yes, you probably should," was the only reply before they got to work. They spent the next hour herding the Pokemon back into their Pokeballs, the hardest being the Pikachu. As they then began to clean up the aftermath, Scarlet couldn't help but notice that the Professor seemed to be giving her more of the work. he must have seen me try to get the Pikachu back into the Pokeball. That proves what I've said, she reassured herself as she helped stand the last knocked-over bookshelf. "Listen, Scarlet," the Professor began, "the event is about to start. We should get ready."

"Oh, I'm ready right now," she replied eagerly.

"Then would you mind finishing up putting the Lab back together? I have some things to do before it starts."

"Okay." As the Professor left, she noticed the time: 9:50. She'd missed the signup for getting a Pokemon! Five minutes later, she figured she'd have to get in to see the event. She fought back tears, but she realized that at least seeing it would be something. Who knows? Maybe Professor Oak submitted her name for her. Not quite finished with the work, she left the Lab to see what would happen.

There were lots of people blocking the door in. By the time she got to the door, the event had already started, and one of the Trainer spots onstage were still empty. Maybe if she could just get past this wall of people! One of the Trainers still awaiting his Pokemon was Gary Oak, the Professor's grandson. Scarlet scowled, seething inside. She **HATED** Gary. Out of everyone in Pallet Town who made fun of her, who called her worthless, or that made her life miserable, Gary was without fail the one at the front of the line to do so, and with the most rigor to boot. The entire reason her camp was even in the Town Square was because of him- her last one he trashed without remorse.

The insufferable brat that Scarlet knew as Gary stepped up to recieve his Pokemon next. The news anchors and cameramen leaned in closer, blocking her view. Try as she might, looking underneath their arms, trying to get their attention, she couldn't see a thing, and thus didn't join in when the cheering started. However, she did learn that he recieved a Squirtle from Professor Oak's amplified voice on the speakers. _I can still get Charmander if I can just GET IN THERE!_ She thought to herself. She tried to shove her way through, but because she was trying to get past fully-grown adults, she only got a few of them angry with her.

Scarlet looked around for a window. Just then, she heard someone else be announced to have recieved Charmander. "There they are, folks!" Professor Oak announced through the loudspeakers. "We have our new Trainers! Give them a round of applause!" Everyone did except for Scarlet. She wasn't picked; this almost didn't register. There had to be some mistake- there were at least three Pokemon, weren't there? Why were there only two people? This wasn't fair! She crossed her arms, ready to pout, when the Trainers started to come out.

She hoped that going with the flow of the crowd would make her unnoticed. No such luck: Gary noticed her right away, a nasty smirk crossing his face as he noticed her. "Well, look what we got here. Too skilled a Pokemon trainer to bother showing up to get her own Starter, Scarlet?"

"Buzz off, freak." She wasn't in the mood for a confrontation right now.

"Like I've never heard that one before," he retorted in his annoying fashion. "I heard you were in Gramps' lab. What did you break this time?"

"I didn't break anything!" She was getting angry now.

But Gary wasn't letting up today. "The Pokemon getting out earlier was your fault wasn't it? I think I know exactly how it happened. 'Go, Pokemon-I-don't-know-the-name-of-because-I'm-too-s tupid-to-know!'" He mimed throwing a Pokeball, made a smashing noise, and acted as if horrified. "'Oh, no! What do I do now? I don't know what to do!'"

This was all she could take. Teeth and fists clenched in anger, she growled before shouting "YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU WHINY PEST!"

Gary seemed genuinely confused. "_You're_ calling _me_ a whiny pest? HA! Here's an idea: A Pokemon battle can get me to shut up. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot!" He laughed again before walking off, leaving Scarlet to sob before heading back to the Professor's Lab.

As she walked in, she was suprised to see Ash Ketchum there as well! Still in a mood, she said nothing as she watched Professor Oak talk to Ash- about getting a Pokemon? But he was late! He didn't deserve a Pokemon- SHE deserved a Pokemon! Before she could say anything, Professor Oak gave Ash the Pokeball with the thunderbolt on it and let out the Pikachu. Ash was clearly thrilled. "Hold on a second, Professor," Scarlet began, "if he-"

There was a knock on the door. Curious, Scarlet decided to open it, ignoring Professor Oak's requests that she get the door. Once she opened the door, she was staring up at a man in a suit. This man seemed like he used to be a heavily-muscled man in his youth, and, indeed, was still laden with musculature that made for an intimidating stature. He was about as old as the Professor, or at least that was Scarlet's guess, with a rather short crew-cut head of silvery-grey hair. But what stood out about this man the most to her was his face: a heavy-jawed man, this guy clearly didn't mess around whenever he did anything. His eyes seemed to analyze everything they gazed upon, determining their weaknesses. He stared at Scarlet for an instant before asking politely, but in a gravelly, foreboding voice, "Excuse me, young lady, but is Professor Oak at home?"

"Um, yes, I am," Oak replied as he came to the door. "And you are?"

"Agent Colombus, Clearance Nine," the man recited as he showed them a circular badge that said exactly that. He was with the government! Ash was at the door by now, and he was beside himself in awe. "But I thought that Clearance Nine was an urban myth."

The man, Colombus, was bemused. "I can assure you that I'm real," he replied simply as he replaced his badge into his coat pocket with a flourish. "May I come in, please?"

"Of course," Oak replied. Once they were situated, Colombus began with his business straight off the bat. "My understanding is that you've recently done business with Gainsboro Industries."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have."

"I'm afraid that you'll need to cease doing business with them."

"Why?" As this back-and-forth was happening, the Pikachu noticed Scarlet again. it apparently hadn't forgiven her for attempting to place him back in his Pokeball. Similarly angry that he got her in trouble in the first place, the two sat there sticking their tongues out at each other.

"We've recently been getting complaints from employees. Or, rather, former employees. The company's CEO, Mr. Gainsboro has recently been laying people off, and, according to the employees, for no reason. They've not been losing money, production has been up, and a great many of these layoffs were loyal, hardworking men who've never commited a crime in their lives."

"Hmm. That certainly is strange..." the Professor pondered this for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps they're doing something...illegal?"

"That's been the suspicion of the Top as well as several of the workers. Unfortunately, all of them seem to believe that whatever is being hidden is from the company's secret projects, and all of the employees from that area of Prototyping have sworn to remain silent, even from the Government."

"So what I need to do is refrain from collaborating with them."

"Exactly. If you have anything to offer for the investigation, I would like to know about it."

Oak was a bit disappointed. "I'm afraid I don't know anything. Sorry. Is there anything else I can do to help?"

Colombus stroked his lip once before replying. "No. Thank you for your cooperation." With that, he left, without saying another word.

"That sure was strange," Ash commented. "Who knew that we'd get a Clearance Nine Agent here in Pallet Town?"

"Yes, that was interesting," Oak agreed before the subject dropped completely. After a minute more of small talk and advise from Oak to Ash, Ash left as well. "Now," Oak began as he turned to Scarlet, "what was that you were saying?"

"I just don't think it's fair," Scarlet began, "that I got here first, before anybody else, and I don't get a Pokemon, but Ash does. He was late!" The indignity of it all struck her as she spoke, and tears began to slowly form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Scarlet, but I couldn't let you get one of those Pokemon. You're not ready yet: Training Pokemon and caring for them go hand in hand, and I don't think that you really get that yet."

"I'll never get that now." And she began to cry.

"There, there, Scarlet. There's more than one way to begin a Journey as a Pokemon trainer. I once met someone just like you who didn't get a Starter Pokemon from their home town either."

"What did he do?" she asked, but still with tears in her eyes.

"He went to work at a Gym. The Gym Leader eventually decided to let him try to train one of the Gym's Pokemon. The two caught on quickly, and they were allowed to go together. he then went on to defeat the Gym Leader and start off from there."

"Should I do that?" Scarlet was beginning to see hope again.

"Of course," Professor Oak replied with his usual smile. "I'll call ahead to the Veridian Gym for you."

Scarlet shot up in triumph and cheered. "You'll need a few things for the journey," Oak told her. He gave her several things that she was too excited to learn how to use, including several empty Pokeballs. The Professor wished her luck, and she was off, golden dreams filling her head.

**And thus our protagonist begins her journey. How will she fare without a Pokemon? Why were there only two Trainers? Will Scarlet ever get her own Pokemon? What's this business with Clearance Nine and Gainsboro Industries? All this and more next chapter! If you like what you see, please leave a Review. Until next time, dear compatriots in writing!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again, everybody! I apologize for the lull in activity; but, now that I'm back, I have more to showcase. I appreciate all the feedback I've received so far, and would like to thank all those who have reviewed this story. You guys rock! I don't think anything more need be said- Let's get going!**

An hour into her journey, Scarlet felt as if she were traveling across the entire world. She quickly lost sight of any familiar sight in favor for the unknown. _My very own journey, _she thought spellbound. She gazed about at the trees and grasses, wary of finding any Pokemon along the way. This certainly would have been more fun with a Pokemon to protect her, but she figured that perhaps it was better that she learn how to get around before being weighed down by a Pokemon to look after. _And that's no fun, taking care of them like they're babies when I could be teaching them to battle._

Soon enough, she began to spot several Pokemon. There were two Rattata that began to fight over a Berry. There was a Furret in the thicket, romping around in a way that made Scarlet actually _not _want to catch it- it was too cute and happy for her to go up and catch it! Three Hoothoot were sleeping on a branch, one of them peering at her with suspicion through one large eye. A Pidgey was chasing around several bugs with a vengeance. _That one_ was what she needed- she heard so many tips on how to train a Pidgey that no doubt it would be easy. She pulled out one of her Pokeballs and chased after it.

The chase went on for fifteen minutes before Scarlet finally yelled "Come back here, Pidgey!" Without thinking, she threw the Pokeball at it. The bird squawked as the large red-and-white ball hit it squarely in the back. Rather than have the desired effect, the Pokeball landed uselessly back onto the ground and the Pidgey turned to the human, revenge and anger over the attack burning in its eyes. "Uh-oh," was her only comment before she bolted, the angry Pidgey following close behind her.

The bird swooped at her, screeching as it did so. It missed by mere centimeters, but its wing brushed against her, causing Scarlet to stagger before righting herself. The Pidgey turned and attempted to claw her face. She screamed and tucked her head in, avoiding the majority of the attack and only receiving minor scratches to the back of her head. She turned away, running blind now, before she hit a tree. Dazed, she looked up to see the same Hoothoot watching her, same expression as before, as if it didn't care for the event one way or the other. The Pidgey's screeches shook Scarlet from her stupor as she lifted herself from the ground.

She rushed for the nearest thicket in an attempt to lose her pursuer. She jumped through the shrubs, receiving several more scratches, before she realized that there was no ground on the other side. She fell, head over heels, down the sharp slope, and crashed into a large pile of sticks and leaves. For the third time in twenty-four hours, she lifted herself off the ground. She looked around and noticed that she was surrounded by Sentret.

Scarlet's face brightened. She remembered the Professor telling her about Sentret. The chubby little brown rodents were reportedly friendly. She sat up as one of them, which looked to be one of the youngest in the entire group, bounced up to her and hoisted itself up onto its tail, reaching her level. She giggled a bit and reached out to pet it- and it smacked her hand away and punched her in the face! Shocked, she stood up to avoid receiving more attacks to the face and looked about her. These Sentret didn't seem very happy; in fact, they were all glaring at her with their fists clenched, all standing on their tails.

A realization sank in as she began dancing about to avoid the angry rodents. _The sticks and leaves I fell on! Those must have been their homes! _The largest of the bunch, which was almost as big as Scarlet was, launched itself at her, tail glowing with the power of its attack. She wasn't able to avoid it in time; the full force launched her backward, where she hit her head onto the slope she'd fallen from. _This is __NOT__ what I had in mind for my first day as a Trainer! _She glanced upward and saw the Pidgey, which was sitting back and watching the whole thing before squawking and flying off as if to say _I've done all I need to at this point; good luck silly human! _

The swarm of angry animals were closing in, grunting with their uncontained angst towards their home's destruction. Scarlet didn't know what to do. She was already tired from the chase with the Pidgey, and now there were what could have been a hundred vengeful Sentret about to clobber her! Because her life depended on it, she shot up and ran through the group, even knocking over the large one. She ran and ran, the Sentret right behind her. Why was every animal in this forest so irritable that the slightest offences warranted a prolonged chase?! All Scarlet wanted at the moment was to be at Viridian City right now, or at least to have someone who could help her.

The chase continued, despite Scarlet's growing fatigue. Not far behind her, the gang of fat, lemur-like Pokemon bounded after their target, some of them bouncing off the trees to gain momentum. The ruckus that Scarlet's pursuers were making was enough to rouse the other Pokemon: Ratticates and various Bug-Type Pokemon scampered about, confused; flocks of Pidgey flew about, unwilling to sit through the terrible sounds of the Sentret stampede. Scarlet, meanwhile, was alternating between screaming and panting, terrified about this entire fiasco.

Because of her bubbling whirlpool of emotions and her draining stamina, she failed to notice the tree in front of her before she hit it- **SMACK! **Without even stopping to be dazed this time, she got up immediately and continued to run, unaware that she'd shaken several Pineco from their perches. The Bug-Type, pinecone-shaped Pokemon landed onto the ground with a thud, angering them as well. As the Sentret mob closed in, the Pineco complained in their own little language, which the Sentret took notice of. After a brief dialogue unintelligible to any human being, the Pineco joined the Sentret in chasing this annoying human.

Scarlet ran into a vast clearing. There were alternate hiking trails and several juts of earth and rock that jutted out of the ground, indicating to all wary travelers that there could be pits nearby. Scarlet stopped to catch her breath, clutching her side in pain. _Did I lose them? _She stood there for a full minute, almost convincing herself that the large group of Pokemon were gone, before they broke from the overcast area of the Route in all their fury, the occasional Pineco within the group not being missed by her. "You gotta be kidding me," she muttered to herself as she began to run again.

They weaved through the earthen pillars, eventually getting to where the chase was so confusing that the Pokemon started chasing each other before realizing their mistake. The chaos of it all continued, mostly because of the determination of both parties (Scarlet to escape and the Pokemon because they thought it was worth it to beat her up), but also because they started to get lost. Scarlet was positive that she'd passed that mound of earth at least fourteen times! She turned a corner and found that she pulled up behind the confused crowd of Sentret and Pineco. They noticed her and continued the chase.

This continued well into the afternoon. Scarlet had managed to memorize all the twists and turns and gotten the Sentret lost within the recesses of the maze. Once again catching her breath, she assured herself _Yep, I lost 'em!_

The mound behind her exploded. She turned in shock and saw to her horror the large Sentret poised where the large mound used to stand. It bellowed a war cry, and Scarlet bolted. But she forgot to look where she was going and fell into a pit! After righting herself, she gazed up out of the pit. The lip must have been twenty feet high- there was no way she'd climb out in time! The chattering of the Sentret came closer until they peered down at their victim-to-be. Scared out of her wits, out of options, Scarlet did the only thing she still knew could help. "HELP ME! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!"

The large Sentret smirked before leading the assault, leading with an amazingly deep "SENtret!" The smaller ones followed, joined by the Pineco. They all began to clobber her, left and right. She tried to hold them off, but there were too many. They soon began to pile onto her. Was this the end?

A hand grabbed her by the back of her collar and she began to be lifted from the pit. Several Sentret clung to her like burs, and the largest one refused to let go of her foot. She screamed again, to which an unfamiliar voice, that of a boy, replied "Hold on, I gotcha!"

"Get them off!" She shook her foot as much as she could, but the weight of the Sentret prevented her from shaking it too much.

"I've got an idea! Hold still!" The sound of a blade came from above her.

"What're you-" **RIP! **Whoever this person was sliced her shirt in half along the top of the sleeves and collar. Because this was what most of the Sentret were clinging to, they all fell onto their humongous companion, who yelled as the combined weight of his smaller friends forced him to let go. They plummeted into the pit, made a large dust cloud upon impacting the ground, and stood up to chatter at them angrily.

Still yelling, Scarlet felt herself being hoisted up by her armpits out of the hole. She felt solid ground again, and fell to her knees, quivering a little from the whole experience. The guy who rescued her whistled and chuckled before saying "Well, that was an adventure!" Scarlet looked up at this rescuer: He was a boy who must have been thirteen or fourteen years old. He wore clothing that would have been totally unremarkable had it not been for its color scheme: his shirt, his pants, everything he wore, though plain with no words or iron-on pictures, was entirely gray. This boy had neatly-combed black hair and thin-framed glasses that brought out his brown eyes, which caused Scarlet to feel as if were hiding something, despite the innocent smile on this guy's face.

"Man, that one is BIG!" the boy commented, chuckling a bit. "What did you do to get all those Sentret so mad at you anyway?"

"Never mind that," Scarlet replied, angry, "give me my shirt back!" She was livid. Or was she just suffering from shock? Scarlet didn't care.

"Um, that shirt's cut in half and in the hands of a bunch of Sentret that would love nothing more than to clobber your face in," the boy replied, not turning his gaze away from the pit. As he said this, the Sentret were taking their anger out on the torn, beige rags that used to be her shirt, the large one taking a large portion and wrapping it around its head, a look of vengeance in its eyes. The boy turned to her and added "You're welcome to go get it if you want it so-"

"You should be ashamed of yourself." Scarlet continued to sit there, curled in a ball so that she wasn't exposed. "Cutting a girl's shirt off!"

"What? _Ashamed_ of myself?" The boy seemed genuinely confused. Scarlet couldn't help but notice that he immediately began staring into her light blue eyes. "Why would I be ashamed of myself? I just saved your life."

"I may have just started off, but I'm not stupid," she began as she stood up. "There were other ways to save me, I know it, without resorting to exposing me like you did." The boy didn't react to this at all; he just continued to look her straight in the face. It was as if he hardly noticed that she wasn't wearing a shirt, but she continued. "I mean, why not just shake them off?"

"Because they made you too heavy to shake or swing around," the boy answered, a slight frown on his face to replace the bemused curiosity that was there before. "I could have _tried_, but I'm pretty sure I can't swing a girl and fifteen Sentret, one of which was the size of either of us, any more than two inches in any direction. Shaking them off was impossible."

"I wasn't finished."

"Well, excuse me. Please continue." This boy's voice was flat and monotonic when he said this. _He probably just pretends to be polite when he's angry_, she mused.

"Anyway, you also could have sent down a rope for me or something-"

"I used the rope to keep _me_ from falling," he replied shortly. "If I sent a rope down for you, then the Sentret would have gotten you before you were out of reach. And even if you managed to get high enough, the Sentret would have just climbed up after you."

"Stop interrupting me!" She pointed at him as she said this.

The boy was evidently unafraid of her. He continued to stare straight into her eyes, his own like brown searchlights. "I'm not trying to stop you from saying anything."

"Like I said," she concluded, ignoring him this time, "if you weren't trying to take advantage of me, then you clearly would have chosen another way."

The boy was really getting irritated now. "_No_, I wouldn't have, because there _was_ no other way. And what do you mean 'take advantage of you'? I wasn't making you do anything. I don't remember asking you for anything whatsoever. Do you?"

Scarlet rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant, you idiot."

The boy scoffed at this. "Well, _there's_ gratitude for ya, right there. Y'know, there are two wonderful words that go very well with 'please'. Since you said 'please help me', and I did, then what you need to do is at least say 'thank you'. I know what you meant," he added, addressing the main issue, "It's just that I don't care for any of that degeneracy."

"So a girl's body is degenerate now, huh?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say that; you did."

"Wh- YES YOU DID!"

"No, I didn't," the boy pressed, easily keeping his features from revealing any of his emotions. Scarlet noticed that he still wouldn't break eye contact. What was this guy? _Well, I'm not afraid of you either._ It must be a challenge of wills! Scarlet decided that she was not going to lose to a stranger.

"So, what, trying to change the subject? Nice try, Mister, but you don't just go around and cut people's clothes off.

The boy shut his eyes, brought his palm up to his face, and sighed. "It's obvious that you're suffering from shock from all this. What you need to do is calm down and take a breath."

"I can't calm down when you've put me through this-" she opened her hands as if to indicate her lack of upper-body clothing.

He didn't seem to get what she was talking about; the boy was visibly shaking with anger and his forehead was creased from squinting as if his eyes would pop out if he didn't. "So _that's_ what you think?! You actually have the _GALL_ to accuse me of setting a bunch of wild Pokemon on you just so I could save you?! You know what? I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry for putting my own safety aside so that I can _literally_ pull you from what I suspect could have been your _death! _I'm sorry for being a decent person and doing what should have been done in the first place!"

"That's not why I'm angry!" She replied with just as much anger. "I'm angry because you took my shirt off!"

"I already explained why I did that!" the boy replied, evidently attempting to keep a level head despite how angry he was. "If you still can't understand, then I honestly can't see why you're even out here, trying to partake in something as _complicated_ as Pokemon Training."

Scarlet was silent for a moment before this insult completely registered. She growled and tried to punch this guy. But he was too fast- with relative ease he swatted her fist away without so much as blinking or changing the look on his face whatsoever. She tried again with the same result. A third time, and he caught her hand, preventing her from pulling away. They struggled, or rather Scarlet struggled. The two couldn't have looked any different: while this boy was still seemingly immaculate and clean, Scarlet had cuts and bruises on her face, her arms, her admittedly pale legs, and dirt and twigs in her hair from falling down so many times. While Scarlet was evidently enraged, the strange boy seemed to be taking this as if he'd been through this every day. He showed no effort in holding her there.

"This is no way to settle anything," he said, still staring right into her eyes, before throwing her hand away. "We Trainers settle things with Pokemon Battles, not fistfights as if we're barbarians."

"I'm a Trainer too, y'know," she shot back. She pulled again, and this time the boy let her hand go.

"Hmm," was the only reply before "Well, that's confusing. What kind of Trainer walks around without a Pokemon?"

"Ha! Why would I be stupid enough to not have any Pokemon?"

"I'm not sure, but if you _did_ have any Pokemon, you'd have used them against the Sentret, I think. Besides, I see no filled Pokeballs on you."

"How would you-" A thought dawned on her. She placed her hands on her hips as if she caught him in something. "Oh-ho, so you try hard to not look at my chest, but you noticed every detail of the area around my pockets?"

The boy shrugged as if it didn't matter. He obviously didn't see what was so upsetting about it. He turned as if to leave. "Where do you think you're going?" Scarlet called.

"Away from you, obviously," he called back over his shoulder. "If you don't appreciate it when somebody prevents you from _dying_, then we've got no common ground. Farewell, and I hope we don't meet again." And with that, he pulled something out of one of his bags and tossed it over his shoulder. Scarlet picked it up. It was a shirt. The first thing she noticed about the red shirt was that it had an iron-on for the Pokemon League _from Hoenn._ This was interesting. But honestly, Scarlet didn't care where this guy was from.

After putting it on, she watched the kid leave, scowling. To her surprise, he stopped at the pit and slid into it. After three minutes, he and the Sentret emerged, the Sentret seemingly pacified. Ordinarily, this would have made Scarlet curious, but she was too upset to care. "Humph," she said loudly before turning toward one of the trails, hoping that she'd figure out where she was and which direction Viridian City was from here…

**Sounds like we've got ourselves our first Rival! But who was this boy? What's somebody from Hoenn doing in Kanto? And what happened with Gainsboro Industries and the Clearance Nine agent, Agent Colombus? Will Scarlet receive a Pokemon at Viridian City? Stick around, leave a Review, and find out next chapter!**


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